Heartsome Legacy
by Fanny-1986
Summary: Abby Maitland had nothing against motherhood, but… Nobody prepared her to being a mother of Stephen Hart.
1. Heirloomin'

Disclaimer: if you recognise it, someone else invented it.

A/N

Lack of Connor in the chapter: personally, I find Connor a very nice character that's good for the series, but there is no Connor in action scenes of episode 2 for this story's sake, because, for starters, I don't think that the Home Office employees had nobody else to turn to in search of info on that Arthropleura. I mean, seriously, it's the Home Office. Besides, even if Connor was asked for help, he didn't have any information to give quickly, without searching for it first himself, because he told Stephen in episode 1 that he's built a database that's got vertebrates, and this creature is an invertebrate, if I'm not mistaken about the database. If I am, well… I'd say the Home Office found somebody else to give them information.

Story title: I was looking for adjectives for a story title that got a Scottish side or two. Yep, wanted to write something that had Nick Cutter in it. And Abby. And Stephen Hart, of course. A friend suggested using this word, heartsome. So, here goes…

**Heartsome Legacy**

**1. Heirloomin'**

- What did I say?

Stephen didn't remember a thing.

Or maybe he did and deserved an Oscar for his acting skills? Abby Maitland didn't know. Wasn't sure that she needed to know or wanted to, for that matter. Still, it hurt. Professor Cutter and the captain, not to mention all the other special forces' men, of course… They did the right thing. Brave hunters they were, and they saved his life, but not his memory of… her. She wasn't about to cry.

It was a warm and very-very nice day as one woman or another kept on writing, in those stupid romance novels she wasn't reading! One of the nurses moved there, behind her, in the adjoint room, doing her nursely work, and Shephen Hart was oh-so-close to her, closer than… On his hospital bed, in the normal clothes, not the local horrid stuff, reading… So close!

Abby braced herself.

He asked her a question, right? She might as well answer. Not really a big deal if she happened to dislike his reaction, not a big deal at all! Guys paid her attention 24/7, they did, and she wasn't really hopeful for yet another one to do that proverbial sweeping-off-the feet thing… He wanted to know, fine! She'd tell him.

- You asked me to have dinner with you.

Now, why could her throat get so dry all of a sudden? Abby coughed. The nurse kept moving in the background.

- And I… I said I wanted to have coffee at your place later. I mean, after that d-d-dinner.

Abby was kind of aware of the fact that she sounded a little like he did, poisoned.

- And… and I wanted to stay for breakfast, too.

- Oh.

That was it? "Oh"? Abby wasn't about to cry. She wasn't!

The nurse. She'd better go and ask something of the woman, and just get an excuse, any excuse to leave. She'd better…

- Abby, do you still want any of these?

- Wha?..

- The dinner, the coffee…

He was putting the book down, he was taking her right hand in his, he was smiling, his face – a dream, his voice – another dream to die for, just like those dreadful books used to tell her.

- …and the breakfast. What d'you say, Abby Maitland?

The door was fairly easy to shut, the nurse turning a blind eye to them and tiptoeing into the corridor, bless her. The clothes… Stephen was nearly down to his underwear, his chest bared for the world… no, for _her_ to see, and – boom! She saw _it_.

On that wonderful chest of his, dangling, scaleful… _It _looked disturbingly familiar.

If sort of older and well-worn, but so much like her own snake pendant, the one she got from her First Big Crush. Looking at the snake, Abby felt awkward. That tiny blemish on its aluminium tail and all, no… Not when her dream was right there, almost naked, it wasn't fair! It simply wasn't.

A coincidence… Right? This… this _thing_ had probably sold everywhere by the dozen since forever. Right?! Abby swallowed. Her throat was too dry.

- Where… where did you get it?

Stephen touched the pendant with his gorgeous left hand, gently. His expression softened, too.

- The snake, you mean? It belonged to my mother.

He let out a breath, and the pendant moved when his chest did. Abby swallowed again. It didn't help, of course.

- A long time ago, before she… disappeared. Abby? Abby, what's wrong?

It was her cue to disappear, that's what!

Stephen Hart had never seen a girl dress so quickly. Doctors and nurses there, in the corridor, hadn't seen one running so fast either. As for the girl… She just ran.

Abby Maitland had a mission to accomplish. The kind that meant a long-distance call aimed at her baby brother and a search for an ages-old snake pendant on a chain.

She had it, somewhere in the flat… Right?

She'd soon find out.


	2. Blood Money

To SandyLee Potts: thank you very much for your review! I love it when readers are intrigued. Pester along, some motivation never killed me, I'd say. :) Got the story mapped out and some parts are written down already, but not in the chapter-by-chapter sense, and not everything is set in stone, and now it's up to my spare time to get things going. Wanted to do some speculative work on the differences characters got, as they were shown in season 1 and later, in other seasons. About Abby and the father: you'll see. It's a double spoiler if I tell you now. :)

**2. Blood Money**

- Your knife. Now!

She didn't look the least bit impressed. Everyone in that… subdistrict of London and their mother knew: thugs up front were innocent babies. Compared to the man inside.

- Easy. I'm not here to kill anyone… in the pub.

- Your knife, I said.

She squinted at him, musing briefly on a wonderful subject of the missing link, so big, mighty, and stupid. Right there, in front of her. Oh well…

She gave up her weapon. Her apple, too. And a brilliant smile to go along with those, for she was a well-mannered person, and her parents taught her that being friendly and tipping a porter was a good thing to do.

Not that she cared.

The man grunted and stepped away from the door. She walked in. After all, she came to talk to the, ah, esteemed employer of this _Gorilla gorilla_...

- Mr. Leek, I presume?

He didn't look half the guy she expected to see, but... when this one glanced up from his martini, and patted a bull terrier... The visitor felt a bit like shuddering, if she thought so herself.

This man looked every bit the king, if his eyes and the way mister Leek handled the, er… she-puppy were anything to go by. Oozing confidence. Breathing power.

Yes, she most certainly could believe that Mr. Leek reigned over the local underworld. Good for him, for the dog, and for her.

- Ah, it's you again. The boys said you were in town. A drink, Mrs. Cutter?

How did he?.. She hadn't told any of his gangster club what her name was! Oh well...

- Vodka, please.

She plopped down beside him. The dog growled, and Leek smiled pleasantly.

- Now, now, Dolly... This lady is not for eating. Keep quiet.

The animal shut up. The pub exhaled. The woman sampled her drink.

- So, Mrs. Cutter... What have you got for me?

- Oh, the usual. Ivory, crocodile leather... The crocs were deliciously huge, Mr. Leek.

He took another sip of his martini.

- And I need to look at this regular shipment personally, because?..

She mirrowed his grin.

- I brought one of those leathery friends with me, to show you. It's alive and magnificent, just what you ordered.

Mr. Leek gave Dolly another stroke.

- Didn't your... father wish to add one to his private zoo, Mr. Leek?

Or to arrange a hunt of a lifetime with a nice barbecue party to celebrate it afterwards. Or maybe they weren't really talking about daddy dearest, whatever... Mr. Leek kept on grinning.

- Suppose he did. And your price is?..

He finished his martini. Her smile grew bigger.

- A pack of action men. Say, four or five creatures. Healthy, white, handsome, and absolutely ruthless.

Not a muscle of Mr. Leek's flinched.

- Of course. Should they be armed or… dressed in any particular manner?

She finished her vodka.

- No, not really. Something… casual would do.

They got more vodka and martini, respectively.

- You know, Mr. Leek, I'd love to keep it simple. Your men are to track a girl I point out. They will scare this poor thing, corner her, mug her, and rape her when the mugging is done. Can you provide me with that sort of healthy, white, and handsome creatures to do the job?

Mr. Leek nodded and raised his glass, elegantly.

- To business.

She copied his move.

- Likewise, Mr. Leek. It's a pleasure… doing business with you.

- No, the pleasure is all mine, Mrs. Cutter.

They clinked glasses, briefly. She licked her bottom lip.

- Please, call me Helen.


	3. Matrixed

A/N

If you think _Treasure Island _inspiration worked its way in here, this is true.

**3. Matrixed**

- Gotcha!

If aluminium snakes could hiss in reply...

Abby Maitland felt good. A little tired, yes, but her silly little quest was nearly over, and that called for a celebration. She left the snake pendant by her kitchen sink.

- Don't crawl anywhere.

Now, for the phonecall...

- Got a pen? Right. Jack, I'm looking for G-U-N-N. Ben Gunn. You know, dad's old friend. The one who makes costume jewellery. Yes, Jack, it's important. Like... One of your scholarship applications, in triplicate. Seriously.

That pendant mission had to be accomplished, and then... Then she'd have a perfectly legal chance to squash a nasty little voice. Confusing, persistent! Whispering about time travel and the anomalies.

And snorting, yes, snorting about the wicked desire to get serious with a man who could... no, couldn't, Abby had to remind herself, _couldn't_ be her own son of all people.

On that hospital bed, only a dropped book and an aluminium snake pendant between them... Abby gripped the receiver tighter.

- Great. So he really didn't move anywhere? Jack, you're my favourite baby brother. See ya soon!

...Benjamin Gunn didn't change. Much.

If you wanted to be generous enough and forgot to count all the folds of fat he sported. And was it a bald spot or a?.. He still had _the_ Ben smile, though.

- Hi, Abby.

And _the_ voice, melting every girly heart in a radius of a mile or eight. Good old Ben, among inexpensive, but nice treasures he imagined and then created... or vice versa, she didn't know for sure.

- Good evening, mister Gunn. Do you mind if I come in?

Of course he didn't.

- Look at you, young lady. My, you've grown! Why, only yesterday...

How true.

She was all grown up. Different. Not the little girl he remembered, and yet – she came back to this little town, breaking every speed limit there was to break. Looking for something definite. Solid. Something to lean onto. Something... reliable.

Abby returned the smile.

- And you haven't changed a bit, sir. You, or the shop. Everything's wonderful, just like it used to be.

Mister Gunn chuckled.

- O, fair lady, so flattering and...

Abby shook her head. The poem he recited to her, when she was an awe-struck five-year-old. Yeah, the very same.

- But it's true! Nothing changed.

The shop was exactly what Abby remembered it to be, when she was a little girl.

Bright and metallish at places, with a sparkle of a semiprecious stone here and there, and incredibly warm altogether, like the old, polished counter of just the right sort of wood, drinking in the last sunrays of the day.

As for the kind ageing man behind that counter... The voice, the eyes. That's all she really needed to know.

She was safe there, in his shop.

- A family visit, Abby, eh?

- Yeah, sort of.

If that's what they called it these days. Oh, Abby intended to drop by her mum and dad's house, too. Of course she did. Later. After finding out the things she came for.

The man asked of her job. Reptiles, mister Gunn, never stopped loving 'em. Speaking of which...

- Remember this pendant? You gave it to me, for birthday number six.

Mister Gunn most certainly didn't forget.

- Ah, yes... A curious little thing.

- Oh, I loved it, sir.

Abby made a show of twirling in front of his counter, slowly, and rays of the evening sun filtered through the shop window upon her and the little snake on a chain she put round her neck. Her father's old friend chuckled again.

- I've never made anything like it, you know. Before or after.

Abby slowed down the twirl. Now, why didn't his words sound good? And why, why did hairs begin to stick up on the back of her neck?

- Why, mister Gunn?

He looked at the counter.

- Mould, Abby. That snake mould. I tried it for the first time ever, on your present, and Mrs. Gunn, er, crept up on me in the workshop, and...

He was blushing. Or not. A bit of colour change had more to do with the sunset, pouring through mister Gunn's shop window, really. Like in one of those huggy-kissy books she vowed to stop reading. Very soon!

- I cracked it, Abby. Damaged the thing beyond repair.

...Slowly and carefully, she had to drive slowly and carefully. Right?! She was jolted up thanks to a new hump on the road, and so was her snake pendant.

Abby sped on.

- Damn!

A cat jumped out of her car's way and up a tree.

Abby didn't want to slow down, not yet. The speed... calmed her. A little.

The day was dying spectacularly, just like in those trashy books. She almost reached the house of Amy and Stephen Maitland, her parents, could see it already. Wait a sec. Amy and...

- Stephen! No way, no bloody...

But he was called just so no matter what.

Abby kept driving, slower this time. O.K., names and snakes, and who knew what else... She touched the pendant.

- Think, think... Right.

Probably she got the blasted thing lost, and some other woman found it and then ended up in the past, so she, Abby, wasn't related to Stephen Hart! Yes, _very_ probably.

Carefully, slowly she pulled over and undid the clasp on her chain. Fisted the snake. Got out of the car, raised her arm in the air...

Just then somewhere in London another woman, somewhat older then Abby, took a mobile phone out of her bag. The woman was more than a little tired, but this couldn't wait.

- Hi, Stephen. Uh... Am I interrupting anything?

Abby Maitland waved hello to her father Stephen.

She didn't know that a different, younger Stephen shrugged, listening to the woman's voice, and thought of her, Abby Maitland, and the way she left in such a rush in the afternoon.

She didn't know that he looked out the hospital window, and then focused on his mobile.

- Not really. How are you, Alison?


	4. Thicker Than What?

A/N

Episode 3 events got a bit changed here, because I don't think Abby or Connor (or anyone else) was allowed into water that's not exactly see-through for collecting water samples without more than one person with a BIG gun to keep them company, if it was believed there could be a big wild animal which happened to be a meat-eater, as well, and I don't think Abby lived that long working with wild animals if she was suicidal enough to refuse that sort of escort, and I believe that technology could be used so the nice and, er, little creature Connor whacked with an oar would've been noticed rather quickly.

**4. Thicker Than Wha?..**

- You look really good.

Stephen.

Connor, too, whatever he was doing there. Abby heard something about iPods when she was almost at the door, but… wait. Hadn't Stephen just given her a once-over or what?

Abby Maitland felt something warm flutter and settle in her stomach, just like in the trash books. Yes! _No_, Abby thought, not until she could be absolutely sure they weren't related! After all, she didn't keep that snake pendant for nothing. Couldn't… throw it away. Just couldn't. And didn't she look appropriate for the occasion right then, with not too much flesh exposed?

So she wasn't about to panick, but… But he complimented her. Right. So she could as well be a good girl and tell him...

- Thanks.

He was talking about the bother. Oh, none at all, why would Stephen think that? Well... Probably because she left him earlier on, without any explanation. She'd change that, and soon!

Connor joked, probably. Something about the nurse... She didn't really listen. She had eyes and ears for one man in the room only, just like in the books.

- Come on, I'll give you a lift home.

So they'd get a chance to talk, without anybody to eavesdrop on them. A weird conversation that would be, of course, but she had to manage... And Stephen dropped a bombshell called Alison.

Abby Maitland suspected that she hated romance novels. Now... Now she knew.

- I'd better go. Bye.

Connor kept trying to joke, and she rushed to save face, of her own. After all, Stephen could be just another guy who missed his girlfriend, a guy who didn't live like a monk and enjoyed the company of a silly Abby or two while this, this... Alison girl did her research in the rainforest. Right?

It hurt all the same.

- Abby? Er... can I ask you a quick favour?

She wasn't listening. Connor asked that favour of her anyway, whatever it was. Abby moved to the window. Connor kept talking in the background. She waited. Any minute now...

There!

Stephen nodded at... Alison, right? Well, she was pretty enough, this one, if tired-looking. Stephen gave his girl a smile, and she smiled back. Abby unstuck herself off the window glass.

She didn't want Stephen to see her, not like that. Huh, as if he'd want to glance up! Connor went on speaking about something, probably humourish or science fiction-related...

- Yeah, whatever. We'll talk about it later, Connor. Bye.

She brushed past him. A girlfriend? Stephen's? No matter! Abby walked down the hospital corridor. Didn't feel like running this time.

At all!

What's the point, even if she did? What really mattered, oh yes, a... conversation. The weird one she still wanted to have with Stephen, Alison or no Alison.

...But they couldn't. Talk, that is. Properly.

First, his mobile got out of range, and Abby suspected a certain Alison had a say or two about it. Then, or, rather, before the whole Alison fiasco, she supposed, a man became creature lunch in Crystal Palace Diving Institute.

A bit later the Home Office sonar pinpointed a _something_ in reservoir waters, and Stephen bravely went for a dive with Cutter and Co., all of them nicely armed and dressed in wet suits, of course.

Abby felt her heart skip a bit, and another one. And one more. And again.

She'd vowed to burn those terrible books already. Fingered the snake pendant in one of her pockets, drank more of that coffee Stephen brought her before diving. Wait a sec... That wasn't Connor she'd just seen lurking about, no? Abby blinked. Sniffed at her steaming plastic cup. Even if it was Connor, she couldn't care less at the moment.

- You! You had absolutely no reason to kill it! This animal just came to the surface, and you!..

Abby watched as professor Cutter berated Captain Ryan's men for shooting a beautiful, if lethal mosasaur first and asking questions later. It was a beauty, she agreed. But, given the size of its teeth... Deep down, Abby Maitland knew that she felt tempted to agree with the soldiers.

Only for a brief, VERY brief moment. Still and all...

- Are you all right?

Stephen. Looking at her, concern written all over his handsome face, damn him. And those books!

- Yeah. Lucky me. Not even allowed to help with the samples in troubled waters, you know. Not that I longed to.

Claudia Brown was siding with the captain on the matter of shot mosasaur. Stephen moved closer to Abby. She could almost feel his breath on her cheek. Almost...

- Abby, uh... I meant to tell you... I've been remembering... things.

She focused on the coffee. Tried to focus on it.

- Yeah?

But it proved so hard to do! Stephen, too close for comort, still in that wet suit of his, looking at her, saying that he liked her, that Alison wasn't really...

- Wait up.

Her hands were trembling, and she knew it. Now, where was this little snake on a chain...

- See? You've got one, and this is mine, just like yours. That's why I couldn't stay. At the... at the hospital, I mean. It was too... much. I had to find out, for sure. I still do! And, er... I'm babbling, right?

It got hard to breathe. Like in the books... Somewhere, somehow Abby knew she'd find time to burn them, later.

- I wanted to throw it away, but it just... I couldn't. God, it's wicked!

Stephen's eyes widened a little.

- My mother said that she tried, but didn't get rid of the pendant. That day, she nearly turned a cat into road kill.

Abby didn't like the sound of this.

- You followed me?

He frowned.

- Why would I? That's family history. _My_ family history.

She took a step back.

- Or a coincidence. What if...

He was looking at her. She didn't like that look! Strangely hopeful. Lacking the way he eyed her before.

- What if it's true, Abby? Strange, but true? The anomalies...

No way, mister. She had enough strangeness for a day. She turned to go! Stephen didn't follow her, but he didn't stop talking either. Hopefully. Quietly. Almost to himself.

- The snake reminded my mother of her aunt Muriel. It... sort of had the same facial expression.

Abby Maitland crashed her empty coffee cup.

- Stephen, I've never told anybody about that.

She turned to face him again.

- Now what? D'you know a DNA wizard who won't cart both of us to a loony bin if we ask for a maternity test?

Stephen grinned.

- I might.

Neither of them saw an undergraduate student in a hat behind one of the Home Office cars, to their right.

The undergrad missed too many seminars and figured missing one more wouldn't hurt, so... He crept up as close as possible. He shivered. He wanted some coffee, too, but no-one brought him a cup. He didn't exactly catch everything said by the reservoir, but wind gusted at him a word or two. Words like "mother", spoken in Stephen's voice, and "DNA". Abby said it. Beautiful Abby... The student shivered again.

Off to his left, Captain Ryan was getting royally vocal, unintentionally expanding the student's vocabularly. Professor Cutter kept up with the Captain, just as expertly. Claudia Brown stood in between, hands in the air.

Atop a not-so-far-off building, a woman watched them all through binoculars and munched on her apple.


End file.
